Baby Birds, Calder Cup, and Meme--Oh My!

[dawn_felagund]

Last Friday morning, I followed my usual routine and noticed that Feanor--the adopted bird who had fallen/jumped from the nest and was scampering around our balcony--wasn't making his usual amount of ruckus. But I was running late, so I didn't have time to go out and look for him.

Usually, when I came home, he was the first thing I'd hear, chirping out on the balcony. Still...*silence* So I went out to look for him...

And he'd died during the night. He was stiff and stretched out in the corner under a lawn chair. Poor guy. We'd had vicious storms the night before but I don't think that had anything to do with his demise. I'm not sure that--since he was out of the nest--he was being fed properly. I only ever saw Indis feeding him (ironically) and she also fed his three siblings still in the nest, as did Finwe. When he first jumped from the nest, he was nearly double the size of the others; when he died, they were the same size, which seems to imply that he didn't grow much at all.

The parents probably couldn't feed all four, separated as they were, and so chose to keep the three in the nest alive rather than him.

After I was sad for a while, my first thought: "Phooey. It figures that the one I named after one of my favorite characters was the one to kick the bucket." Then: "At least Finarfin is still alive," followed by my attempts at justifying naming the surviving bird "Finarfin" if the other two should also die based on the fact that Finarfin lives in the book and most of the others do not.

After dinner that night, I wrapped him in a paper towel and buried him underneath the tree in front of our building. It seemed a nicer ending than flushing him down the toilet or putting him out with the garbage.

Sometime between Friday night and Sunday morning, the other three left the nest as well. I'd gone outside to take pictures on Friday (when I found dead!Feanor), and they had grown full flight feathers and were testing their little wings. Unfortunately, the camera was out of batteries and they left before I got new ones; when I went to check them Sunday morning, all that was left was an empty nest.

And lots of bird poop!

Still, I got great pictures of them in the beginning, so I'm pleased with that, and maybe Indis and Finwe will remember us for their nest next year. And I can finally water my snapdragon normally again!

In better news, we are going to Game 4 of the Calder Cup minor-league hockey finals on Saturday! Woohoo! The Hershey Bears made it all the way to the end this year and are--according to Bobby--the favorites to win the whole sheebang. We've got a huge group going up, so it should be fun. (And it does not involve driving through northern Virginia with it's invisible roadwork, always a plus!)

Finally, gakked from callirhoe in accordance with the rules of the meme:

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want, either good or bad.

When you're finished, post these instructions on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people remember about you.

Comments

[1lady-so-divine.livejournal.com]

We have many memories,lol. You chasing Jesse around the parking lot that one Sat., for instance-lol:) Did you get your card and picture CD?

I'm also sure that we'll find a suitable day/ time for our chocolate fun:)

[dawn_felagund]

I did! Yesterday! Thank you so much! I can't wait to peruse the CD sometime soon! (And one day, I will be able to embarrass Jesse and Chelsea with these pictures! :^P)

Regarding candy, it's probably best that we wait until after Puerto Rico anyway. I have a couple of books that I want to copy recipes from for you to get you started, and I don't want to half-ass this. I'm so looking forward to it, though! Candymaking has been passed through my family, so I'm so happy that now it's going to yours! :)

[1lady-so-divine.livejournal.com]

LoL, yeah, there are a few extras on there but you also have lil' cupcake's(baby#3) ultrasound pics on there too.

Remember, take plenty of bottled water with you, LoL:) Hey, you'll be relaxed enough to chase after Jesse-Hahahahaha:)He'd do that to you too, just because he knows who you are. The only thing I ever remember my mother doing was German baked goods, and I've looked them up and they all seem so time consuming, s I'm gald I'll be doing the candy thing, and as the babies get older I can get them in on it for Holidays and all that good stuff. I have talent in the kitchen so this should be a piece of cake for me, I'll just be learning something new and putting my culinary genius to work. Truth be told, I think Brandon is looking foreward to it too, considering Him and Joey will probably be the first to try my candy.

[digdigil.livejournal.com]

*GASP* Oh no!!!

Of course, you realize that by naming him Feanor, you cursed him. (Please do not take me seriously!) Oh well. Hopefully his adopted siblings will make an Oath to get revenge on you. Poor thing.

I hope you have a wonderful time at the hockey game. I'm going to watch FIFA Fever on TV and begin to get into soccer in time for the World Cup. I've decided that since so many on my flist are into it I may as well watch and join in the fun!

[dawn_felagund]

Hopefully his adopted siblings will make an Oath to get revenge on you.

Hehe...this is a typo, I think (I hope!) but it gave me such a laugh...please don't delete it! :^D

Honestly, though, I named him Feanor because he was so obnoxious...and his obnoxiousness got him killed in the end! So it does make sense.

I love the World Cup! Love love love! Soccer was my first sports love, before discovering American football and hockey. I used to fangurl certain footballers almost as much as I now fangurl Feanorians. Almost. So I'm very excited about it too. (And the US is supposed to have a fairly decent team too. For once. Though I usually wind up rooting for England anyway! :^P)

[digdigil.livejournal.com]

Oh-oh. Oh well. Teehee.

Yes, I've always liked soccer but never got truly into it before. But I think (thanks to Alina and some of the other soccer fans on my flist) that this year I will become involved! I think Canada has a team but they suck, so I will probably root for the US team, and England, as always, of course. Although I think Alina has now got me interested in the Swedish team.

[nienna-weeper.livejournal.com]

Poor little Feany...*sniff*

Memories...hmmmm...I mostly remember warning you to be careful of your knees, and the gorgeous piccies of your gorgeous chocolate! And, of course, The Spider Slayer, which I saved to my fave fic folder and which makes me giggle and beam every time I read it. Heeee....

[dawn_felagund]

Oh, Eru! The Spider Slayer! I had forgotten all about that! :^D

I am still careful of my knees, btw. ;)

[sinneahtes.livejournal.com]

Memory: Chatting on Yahoo about throwing something nasty at a car-wrecking idiot, Daylight Savings Time, the ickiness of cotton candy, and the ridiculousness of local news ("EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WHY YOU SHOULD BE COWERING IN FEAR RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND! Story at 11!"), among other things. :D

[dawn_felagund]

Ah, yes! DEATH! DOOM! DESTRUCTION! DISEASE! DREAD! DISASTER! (Details at 11....)

That was a crazy day. You and I were throwing nasty things at the guy and juno_magic was advocating the use of thumbscrews in a very interesting fashion at the same time.... o.O

[callirhoe.livejournal.com]

Poor Feany-bird. :'-(

I don't know if this can be classed as a "memory", but mostly whenever I see you post, it reminds me that I've yet to read AMC, which I've really meant to do for a loooong time. I'm determined to read the entire super-long whole of it once I get back from camp and have leisure time up to here. Now I'm just plain curious to see what all the fuss is about... :-)

[dawn_felagund]

Eek! I hope that it does not disappoint! It might be helpful for you to know that the Revised & Edited version will be making its debut midsummer on all the archives near you, with one chapter per week, posted on Fridays, per usual. ;)

Hey, it's got lots of Carnistir, so that's hopefully in my favor! :^D

[callirhoe.livejournal.com]

I'll look forward to a lot of reading over the next months, then! :-D I'm VERY excited for the Moryo bits. I'm sure it will be worth the self-imposed wait.

Will you be posting it on FF.net? I'd love that, because then I get the e-mail reminders when you post a chapter... *wants e-mail reminders* ;-P

[dawn_felagund]

Yes! Despite the Pit of Voles' reputation, it is a great place to go for readers! I will also post it at Tolkien Fan Fiction, maybe Stories of Arda and Open Scrolls, and maybe possibly seek permanent archive status at HASA. I'm really waffling on the last one.

And my website, of course, which will debut sometime after my Puerto Rico holiday! So it'll be ubiquitous!

[aramel-calawen.livejournal.com]

The Feanor-bird died young? Well... it figures, in a strange way.

I kept birds too, until they died. :( I'm not very good with pets. Sooner or later they get ill and die. So I don't keep them anymore.

Still, it's a pity the Feanor-bird didn't live to have seven baby birds. Now that would be interesting...

[dawn_felagund]

I used to keep budgies in my youth. (Around your age, actually!) Then I discovered that budgies are terribly annoying when they wake up at 6 a.m. and I was thinking more along the lines of ten or eleven.... ;)

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

Nature's way is sad, even though it's how things have to be. Poor little Feanor!

[dawn_felagund]

I figure that they did fairly well: We started with five eggs and three ended up living long enough to fly from the nest (one of the eggs never hatched--actually, it just disappeared one day--and of course, Feanor died), so a 60% survival rate can't be too bad. I once saw a black rat snake swallow three baby robins in a matter of minutes; it's certainly better than that! o.O

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

I think I'll pick how whenever we talk on YIM, it's usually almost always the same conversation - but that's one damn good conversation!

[dawn_felagund]

Heee...yes! It always is the same, isn't it? Band, Elves, more band, more Elves.... :^D

[morelindo.livejournal.com]

You commenting on my slash. You are one of the people who made - and still make - me feel welcome and at home in LOTR fandom. Plus, you like ranting about canatics just as much as I do. Hehe. *hugs*

[dawn_felagund]

*squees* That's a lovely memory! I still remember that story too and commenting on it! I'm so glad to hear that it's stuck with you too. :)

I'm probably the least cliquish person on the planet, so exclusivity and drama...bleh. But I'm preaching to the choir on that one. ;)

[atanwende.livejournal.com]

Poor bird. :( But at least the others are okay.

Hmmm... memories... You wrote me a really nice review for WRU, I remember. And then I found your LJ over your ff.net site and thus discovered AMC... :)

[dawn_felagund]

And so it all began.... :^D

You know, I really miss writing reviews at ff.net. Methinks that once all the June birthdays have passed *ahem* and all the stories are posted, then I might have to take a week off to just read. Plus, there's about a dozen stories up at silwritersguild that I want to read (including one of yours!) so a week off might be in order. :)

[atanwende.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. I've hardly written any reviews in the past few months I think. I only did so when I was really enthusiastic about a story, and most of the times when I did so I was so incoherent that I might as well have written nothing. ;)

[isil-elensar.livejournal.com]

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want, either good or bad.

Beside the insta-drabbling sessions, I remember when I first found out that you loved roller-skating as much as I did! And then finding out that you were a roller-dancer, too! I think that was yet another thing we found we had in common.

One day, I'll come to Baltimore, and we can skate as long as we want!!

[dawn_felagund]

Yes, I remember that too because--of all of my interests--rollerskating was one that I never expected to have in common with anyone on my flist! When I tell people that I skate, they generally first assume that I am an ice skater; when I correct them, I get a queer look and "People still do that??" Erm...yes? :^D

I hope that you can really make it to the Baltimore/DC area some day! We can skate and Bobby and I can show you around the town! We love showing off our hometown to guests, so we're ready when you are. ;)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want, either good or bad.

Hm... there aren't all that many memories, sadly. I guess the earliest one was me reading AMC and being afraid of commenting because I felt I didn't have anything thoughtful to say, but I wanted to let you know how much I loved it, so I commented anyway, and you even commented back! Which is pretty rare. *nods* There!

[dawn_felagund]

I remember that too! And I remember thinking--as I always do when I get comments like "I've been reading along and I love the story but I'm afraid that I don't have anything profound to say"--that those comments are just as wonderful as any other; it is always nice to know that my work reaches readers. :) But I've been in that position too: Most of my favorite stories--unless they're written by friends--I never comment on. I simply feel that I lack anything thoughtful to say and that "authors like that" (meaning better than me) certainly don't need my empty praise to keep them going. Now that some of those authors are on my flist, and I know them better, it's surprising to find that they sometimes do! :)

I am really grateful that you took the time to comment. Thank you! Some weeks, I wondered why I even wanted to keep AMC going; the partially missing chapters (thanks to a data loss) were frustrating to rewrite; some of the stuff was really poorly written to begin with and had to be beefed up before I dared show it to an audience. Support and encouragement really kept me going then. (Otherwise, the thing would still be unfinished, I fear!)